Balak Palak, a teenage film on sex

Adman and filmmaker Ravindra Jadhav, 40, has always been open and communicative with his two sons, Atharva, 13, and Ansh, 7.

Adman and filmmaker Ravindra Jadhav, 40, has always been open and communicative with his two sons, Atharva, 13, and Ansh, 7.

But in August last year, he was caught off-guard when his older son, on the threshold of puberty, asked him: "Why don't the girls I used to play with when I was younger talk to me anymore?"

"I wasn't prepared. I realised I would have to start answering them or he would go to other sources, like friends or the internet," he says

This conversation set the ball rolling for his latest feature film, Balak Palak (abbreviated to BP, also a reference to 'blue prints' or pornographic films), about a group of five adolescents curious about the birds and the bees, the trailer of which was uploaded online on September 12.

In two weeks, it has been viewed more than 40,000 times. The film, selected for screening at the South Asian International Film Festival in New York in November, will be released in theatres here in December.

At the time of that conversation with his son, Jadhav was looking for a concept for his third film after Natarang (2010) and Bal Gandharva (2011), both of which met with stupendous box-office success and critical acclaim, as well as National Awards.

Balak Palak, set in 1985, draws from Jadhav's own observations as a teenager of escapades such as trying to sneak a VCR and a pornographic video into the house.

The film has attracted big Bollywood names: actor Riteish Deshmukh is turning producer with this film; hit composer duo Vishal Dadlani and Shekhar Rajviani have composed the songs, their first Marathi venture.

As for his sons, Jadhav says that the film has helped him communicate with them more openly.

"They love the film and are asking me to screen it at their school so that their classmates can benefit from it," he says.